Serpent's Child
by WaffleGiraffe
Summary: What would Harry's life be like if Lily had chosen Severus? Obviously a lot different! Going to be fairly long (I hope) and I suck at summaries. It does start slow... rated T but rating may rise, nothing like, um, THAT but...
1. Beginnings

~This is mostly just flashbacks to explain things that will come later.~

_ Beep. Beep. Beep. Severus Snape listened to the ever-fainter sounds of the heart monitor. He clutched the rail to his beloved's bed and looked at her face. Lily Evans' face. He looked stricken, paler than usual. They had been formally married 7 years ago, that was 4 years before their son, Harry Regulus Snape, was born to the previously peaceful pair. The said son sat quietly in the corner, not fully understanding why his mommy was here, and why his father was so quiet. He just knew he should be quiet too. He was lucky. He didn't know about the leukemia cancer slowly deteriorating Lily's health. He didn't know there was no cure: magical or muggle. Beep. Beep. Beep. Severus heard the beeps growing longer, The pauses between his wife's heartbeats growing longer. He was in agony, listening to her death. Then, he heard one, gasped word. "Always." Severus let the tears run freely down his face, expressing his grief in the only way he knew how to. At some point, the heart monitor's infrequent beeps blurred into one, monumental noise. Lily Evans was gone, forever. _

_Severus, in his haze of grief and mourning, didn't feel the slight tug on the hem of his robes. He didn't see the child's confused face, his son's confused face looking up at him innocently. Harry's childish voice seemed to be lost in the fog of loss and pain. "Daddy, what's wrong?" Severus continued to mourn silently, then aloud."You were perfect, Lily," he murmured quietly to himself. Harry couldn't hear what his dad was saying, and was scared. "D-daddy, what's wrong?" The innocent voice sliced through the haze of misery, temporarily snapping Severus back to reality. He reassuringly, although it was more to reassure himself, told Harry, "Mother's not coming home, Harry." His quiet voice did little to calm the child, whom in fact got the wrong gist of the statement. "Oh," his little voice rang out in the small white room, "'til when?" Severus was in agony. "Ever." The single word tore Severus apart, and his tears fell with renewed vigor._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~One Month Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_ Harry rode in the car with his father to a psychologist's office. There was an air of deathly silence in the car , but he was accustomed to it. Ever since mom died, there had been nothing but sparse conversation and the chilling, deafening quiet. He knew his father was struggling, but it was an inside conflict. The car soon arrived at the large white building with many glass windows. Severus stiffly got out, not seeming to notice Harry quietly following him. Severus walked up to the front desk and rang the bell for service. Harry stood uneasily behind his father as he talked to the lady at the desk. Severus suddenly got up and walked with the woman to a room. Harry followed, but was forgotten as the door slammed in his face. The three year old felt his eyes begin to burn as tears started falling from his eyes. He backed up and stumbled into the waiting room to wait for his father._

_ Severus heard the nurse close the door behind him. He moved to the chair on the other side of the room. "Mr. Snape what is your purpose for visiting us today?" The friendly nurse mildly flirted with him. It took him a lot of strength to admit to the nurse that he needed to make sure he was stable. The nurse simply nodded after Severus explained his need to her. "I'm going to ask you to perform a few tests for me." The nurse told him. Severus dryly sighed and obliged to the first test, which was describing himself. "I'm a lonely man with no source of joy or happiness, and I can't seem to get the nerve up to end it all," he confessed to the nurse, "I'm a terrible person who can't raise his son right and I have no right to exist on this planet!" The nurse, somewhat taken aback, replied, "How would ending your life make your son feel?" Severus felt the horrible, miserable fog drift back into his mind. "Harry would be better off without me," he said bitterly._

_ Harry saw his father leave the room, after what seemed like hours. He followed his father into another room and climbed up on one of the chairs. His father settled into the chair beside him. They waited for the doctor to come and tell them the results. Severus at some point became aware of a pale, shaky Harry looking at him. He snapped out of the shroud over his conciousness. He reached over and gently touched a lock of Harry's ebony hair. He looked into his sons eyes and was shocked to see a mini-lily staring back at him, Harry's eyes were like miniature versions of Lily's. Severus didn't notice or hear the child call his name as he slipped back into his mind._

_ At some point, the doctor had come in as Severus zoned out and Harry had tried to get his attention. He sat down and waited on Harry's father to notice him. As soon as he noticed, the doctor began speaking, "Due to the outcomes of the multiple tests you have performed and the answers you have given, you have been diagnosed with severe depression." The words crashed on both father and son, although Harry didn't know what it meant. Harry looked up at his father, and was surprised to see him paler than usual. Harry, knowing his father wouldn't tell him, he asked, "What is severe depression?" The doctor sighed, and honestly answered, "When someone gets so sad that they can no longer control themselves."_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End Flashback two years later~~~~~~~~~~~_

The door slammed loudly to the small house on Stillness road. It was north of a rather large park called Blythe Hill Fields and was southeast of London. The two occupants of the house, A five-year old boy and his grouchy father, more commonly known as the Snapes. The offender of the door-slamming crime was none other than Harry Regulus Snape himself. It had been a short five months since his father had snapped out of the fog around his mind. "I'm Home!" shouted Harry as he ungraciously dumped his school bag on the floor near the entrance. The first to greet him was a silver and white cat which they called Rose. She was Lily's old cat and they just didn't have the heart to dump her at some shelter. Harry walked into the kitchen to find his ever-thoughtful father making him a jam sandwich. He retrieved his folder from his school bag and began working on a rather boring assignment. Severus, walking over to deliver the sandwich to its demise, noticed the paper and asked, "What are you working on, Little Lion?" Harry was dumbfounded. His father called him "_Little Lion_." He hadn't heard that since before his mother died. Severus ruffled his hair fondly and began helping him with his maths homework before tucking the little boy in and retiring to his own room.

~~~~DISCLAIMER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We don't own Harry Potter or anything recognizable... including Stillness Road , London, Blythe Hill Fields, etc.

Next chapter probably won't come out until... maybe a week or a week & a half from now. Sorry for any errors! :P


	2. Never Meant To Be

~~Some things may have been unclear as of the last chapter. The things in italics were flashbacks, so harry was 3 when his mother died and his father was diagnosed with depression, in current time he is 5 and his father has recently recovered.~~

~~ DISCLAIMER: We don't own Harry Potter~~

Harry woke with a start. He sighed sleepily, he had been having the best dream about flying on a broomstick! He could still feel the wind rushing through his hair and being so high in the air. He had felt far more free than ever before… it was like he could have gone anywhere. He looked at the clock, it was 6:37. He had about 20 minutes before he had to leave for school. He hastily threw on a pair of jeans and a gray t-shirt with a navy blue border around the neckline. He ran a brush through his hair, not that it did anything, and headed down the steps.

He smelled the usual morning aromas. Coffee, bacon and other delicious scents tickled his nose. He looked in the kitchen and saw his father standing in front of the stove, armed with a spatula. Severus flipped the bacon and walked toward his son, gently ruffling his hair and setting a plate on the table in front of him. The plate had bacon, toast, and eggs. Harry's mouth watered as he wolfed down his breakfast. Severus, drinking his coffee, asked his boy, "Did you finish your maths homework?" "Yeah, dad," Harry replied easily. He finished his breakfast, put the plate in the sink and made his way to the door. He slipped on his sneakers and turned to leave. "Have a good day, Harry!" Severus called out after him. Harry just had time to say, "I will," before the door closed. He walked toward the bus stop, it wasn't very far away, but it wasn't nearby. It only took him a few minutes to get there, and he boarded the bus to his least favorite place that he knew.

When Harry arrived at his muggle school, he got off the bus, almost running to his first-grade classroom. He glanced around anxiously, looking for something. He thought he would make it to the classroom, but he never did. A larger, fourth-grade boy loomed in front of him. Harry felt his heart constrict in fear, it was Mason Redbrough, the scourge of his life. "Where do you think you're going, snake kid?, he said confidently. "It's Snape," Harry replied shakily. "You cheeky bastard," the bully said,"You need a lesson in manners!" He dragged Harry into the bathroom easily, and the teachers that saw just turned a blind eye.

"Lemme go!" Harry fought with all of his might, but to no avail. The bigger boy shoved him into the bathroom wall after releasing him. "Ickle little snakeykins tried to skip out on his first lesson of the day," sneered the bully. He swung a fist at Harry, catching him on the shoulder. Harry cried out, and even dared to try to fight back, scoring a kick in the shin. The bigger boy, who was completely unfazed, smiled evilly. "You'll pay, bitch!" He charged at Harry, slamming his back into the handle of a stall. Harry retaliated by weakly showing him away. He scrambled to get away, and the bully punched him hard in the hip. Mason threw him to the ground, then kicked him full-force in the back of the head. With a chuckle, he left the boys bathroom, saying over his shoulder, "And don't even _think_ about skipping out again, little Shit!"

Harry regained conciousness half an hour later. He groaned, sitting up quickly. 'Big mistake,' he thought as his numerous bruises sharply ached. He stood slowly, leaning on the boys bathroom sink to support himself. He looked in the mirror at his bloody nose and remembered when his head had been kicked. He looked around, then took A paper towel to wipe off his face and staunch the bleeding. Harry slowly lifted his shirt a little to find a massive bruise spreading across his hip and lower back. He winced inwardly, pulling his shirt down again. Sighing, he collected his scattered and torn belongings and went into class.

Harry finally got home After 6 hours of sitting in a classroom with throbbing bruises and a semi-nosebleed. He threw open the door, slamming it and ignoring Severus' attempts to talk to him. He proceeded to his room, where he collapsed on his bed and let out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding. Harry just laid there for a while, not noticing his father's presence until he sat on the bed next to Harry. "Are you sure you don't need anything?," Severus asked, his voice betraying his concern. "I'm fine..." Harry managed to choke out unconvincingly. Severus sighed and left his stubborn son, who fell asleep the second the door closed.

He returned to the kitchen, deep in his thoughts. Harry was only 5, there couldn't be anything serious. His Little Lion would confess if he was troubled. '_He must have had a bad day_,' he thought. But Severus couldn't be farther from the truth. Harry hadn't confessed, because he didn't want to admit the painful beatings had been going on for months now, ever since the second semester began. Severus strolled over to the calendar, checking if he was busy tomorrow. He noticed next week was his departure date for Hogwarts. He frowned, last year he had taken the year off because of Lily's death. He decided he would leave his son with a competent caretaker. He sighed, deciding to work it out later and retired to his own room for the night.

Harry laid in his room, not daring to move. Whenever he did, the pain from his aching bruises multiplied by millions, sometimes almost overwhelmingly bad. '_Why would anyone do this? I must be hideous, or some abomination that was never meant to be,'_ he thought. It echoed in his mind, '_Never meant to be..._' He shut his eyes. Even thinking was too painful. He gritted his teeth and stood up. He hobbled to the bathroom, where he retrieved the bruise salve that Severus made him keep in there. He gently applied it, gasping at the sting it left behind. He finished applying the salve and collapsed in his bed, instantly giving into the comforting darkness.

~Don't expect two chapters within 24 hours every time... I'm exhausted! ~


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